


Birthday Gifts

by mothercetrion



Category: Mortal Kombat (Video Games), Mortal Kombat - All Media Types
Genre: Birthday, Brothers, Gen, Gift Giving, if yall tag this as ship then im gonna go fucking ballistic, tumblr requests
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-12-30
Updated: 2019-12-30
Packaged: 2021-02-27 14:35:01
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,685
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/22028653
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/mothercetrion/pseuds/mothercetrion
Summary: It was almost Bi-Han’s birthday. Kuai Liang and Tomas were working together to find a gift for him.
Comments: 6
Kudos: 21





	Birthday Gifts

**Author's Note:**

> fic request for anon!! i apologize for it being late but i hope you like

Bi-Han’s birthday was the next day. He would be… Well, Kuai Liang and Tomas didn’t quite know how old he would be. Bi-Han hadn’t mentioned his age to either of them in forever. They just knew that he would be older. A year older! And they wanted to find him an excellent gift for Kuai Liang to give his brother.

Bi-Han very rarely celebrated his birthday in a very lush way. He was more into the simple things—a dinner with just Kuai Liang and a dinner with the Lin Kuei. He always told everyone, “Being a member of the Lin Kuei is gift enough” and hated receiving things. But the Grandmaster had told Tomas (who had told Kuai Liang) that this birthday, in particular, was extraordinary. Did they know why? No. Did they care? No!

Kuai Liang had one goal in mind: find a fantastic gift for his older brother to commemorate the special day. 

“It cannot be food,” Tomas pointed out. It was their day off from training and the day before Bi-Han’s birthday. It was the last possible day for them to find something for Bi-Han to enjoy. He ate at a snack in the form of a banana as Kuai Liang messed with the freshly-fallen snow on the ground in front of the temple steps. “Perishable,” he added. “You want something he can get long-term use out of.”

“True.” Kuai Liang tossed up a snowball into the air and watched as it dissipated into light snow. “It’s a big day for him. He needs something he can always get purpose from.”

Tomas kicked at the snow that landed next to him from Kuai Liang’s ball. “Could you use your abilities to make him something?”

“He would not like that,” Kuai Liang countered. “I honestly do not know what he likes, but he can make himself something out of his powers. It would not be special.”

Tomas shrugged and went back to thinking. Kuai Liang rose to his feet and planted himself next to Tomas on the steps. “I want him to have a great gift, Tomas. I have zero ideas.”

“You ever think that maybe,” Tomas said, “that Bi-Han would like whatever you give him because it’s from you? I doubt he is as picky as you worry he is.”

Kuai Liang frowned at him. “I mean… I guess we can see what I can come up with… with my abilities, at least.”

“Yeah!” Tomas smacked at his shoulder with a grin. “Heartfelt gifts are always great. He’ll love it.”

And so they began brainstorming. They ruled out people; Kuai Liang’s abilities had not granted him the details of a human face. A faceless human would be weird. Food was also eliminated. A statue of food when Bi-Han could make food for himself? Not a good idea.

“He likes nature,” Tomas mentioned after a while.

“We are surrounded by nature,” Kuai Liang replied.

“Good thing I have eyes,” Tomas muttered. “But it’s always cold and snowing. You can never see, ah… flowers! And green trees! And grass! And all that stuff! Yeah, you can’t do colors, but you can do what he never sees. I think he would quite like that.”

Kuai Liang thought for a minute, and he eventually realized that perhaps it was a brilliant idea. They rarely left the temple, so the sight of the beauty of nature was seldom. Bi-Han had to like that. 

So Kuai Liang closed his eyes and began to picture a nature scene in his mind. It had been several months since he saw a living, prospering tree, but he did his best to imagine the grandest tree that his young mind could manage. It had dozens of bending and twisting branches, all of them filled with the brightest leaves. The roots were visible in his mind, and they spread out to keep the tree strong and healthy. It towered over his vision, a representation of life and beauty and the profound significance of nature in the world, but Kuai Liang could still see that it was… stunning.

He didn’t even notice his mind creating magic in his hands. He only noticed when he looked down and saw a statue in his hands.

The roots acted as the base for it, so it could comfortably sit on a flat surface. It was nowhere near the size of the actual tree, of course, but it was still a lovely statue.

Tomas gasped at the sight. “Wow! Kuai Liang, is that what you pictured?”

Kuai Liang stared down at the statue in his palms. “Yes, it is, but… I—”

“I am going to stop you there.” Tomas slid a little closer to Kuai Liang and leaned closer to inspect the statue. “This is… This is incredible. Okay? That’s the truth. I know you want to give Bi-Han something great, and this is it. He will adore this and cherish this. I know I would.”

Kuai Liang glanced at him. “I was thinking so too. I… I suppose we wait until midnight.”

“I think this is your job, Kuai Liang. I wish you the sincerest of luck.”

The rest of the day went by in a flash. Kuai Liang had hidden the tree statue in a back closet, continually checking on it to make sure it did not melt. It wouldn’t; his powers could create the strongest ice that could withstand just about all warm temperatures. But he still wanted it to look just as it did before.

Bi-Han had decided to train on his day off, and he returned to his and Kuai Liang’s shared quarters a few minutes before midnight. Kuai Liang was, of course, in the room, doing his nightly meditation to get his mind ready for sleep. He heard Bi-Han enter, and he greeted him with a smile. “Hi, Bi-Han.”

“Hello, Kuai Liang.” Bi-Han settled on the floor next to him, eyeing him with a faint smile. “You seem to be in a good mood.”

“Of course. It’s almost your day.” He turned to face a clock behind him. Two minutes to midnight. The clock was above the closet that the statue was stored in. “I have a surprise for you this year.”

“Is that so?” Bi-Han asked curiously. “And why this year?”

“The Grandmaster keeps talking about how this year is special. I may not know why, but… I need to celebrate the occasion with a good gift.” Kuai Liang crawled over to the closet and opened the door, spotting the gift in the back. He turned his head to Bi-Han. “Close your eyes.”

Bi-Han lifted a brow in surprise. “Must I?”

“Yes!” Kuai Liang replied. “Trust me. Hold out your hands as well. Palms up, please.”

With a quiet laugh, Bi-Han obliged to his brother’s request. “I feel a faint fear, brother. I am unsure why,” he teased.

Kuai Liang laughed to himself as he lifted the statue from the floor and began moving back to Bi-Han. He looked at the clock another time. Roughly twenty seconds to midnight. He scuffled across the floor and placed the statue, roots down, on top of Bi-Han’s palms. The older brother jumped. “Cold!”

Kuai Liang tilted his head. “You are unbothered by the cold.”

“True. But it’s still cold!”

Kuai Liang laughed again. “Ten more seconds until you can open your eyes.”

“Kuai Liang—”

“Trust me!”

Kuai Liang listened intently to the clock behind him. He heard a louder tick compared to the rest and knew that it was midnight. It was Bi-Han’s day. He pulled his hands away from the statue and let out a sigh. “Happy birthday, Bi-Han. Open your eyes.”

Bi-Han did and opened his eyes. He looked at Kuai Liang for a brief second before looking down at the statue in his hands. He instantly gasped at the sight of the tree in his hands and leaned forward to inspect it further. Kuai Liang looked away from Bi-Han then. He feared his reaction. He wanted him to like the present so strongly, it was indescribable. “I know it is not… the most fantastic thing,” he said quietly, “but it is from the heart. The most meaningful gifts are from the heart, I have learned.”

He heard a quiet laugh and looked back at Bi-Han. His older brother was beaming.

“Oh, Kuai Liang… This is just… I am in shock. I am speechless.” He laughed a little louder and looked up from the statue and to his brother. “You made this? With your powers?” When Kuai Liang nodded without a word, he shook his head. “I cannot believe it. This is beautiful, Kuai Liang.”

Kuai Liang lifted his head a little higher. “It is?”

“Yes! Come here.” He ushered his brother closer with a swing of his head, and Kuai Liang crawled to sit right next to him. Bi-Han carefully rested the gift in one hand and gestured to the branches with the other. “There is a lot of detail considering your age and skill. See those leaves? If they were any larger, they’d be realistic. I think… I think there may even be grooves in the leaves and the trunk.” He moved his hand towards the roots that the tree sat on. “The roots are beautiful as well. Roots are so unconsidered when thinking of trees, and yet here they are. I am very happy about it.”

Bi-Han looked down at Kuai Liang and was surprised to see him in stunned silence. “Did you not think that I would like it, Kuai Liang?”

Kuai Liang stared at the tree instead of his brother. “I wanted it to be the greatest gift imaginable. I know you dislike gifts, but I wanted to make something special for you.”

Bi-Han moved an arm around his shoulders in a side hug. “You did just that, Kuai Liang. That and more.”

Kuai Liang looked up at this brother. “So you like it?”

“I _love_ it. I will cherish it forever.” Bi-Han carefully put the statue on the floor and fully enveloped Kuai Liang in a hug. “Thank you, brother.”

Bi-Han’s birthday was a success.

**Author's Note:**

> https://i.ytimg.com/vi/g0tj_ZLpv80/maxresdefault.jpg  
> this is the statue that i imagined while writing this. i cannot get it to embed no matter how hard i try. sorry :(


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